Effect of parental age on treatment response in adolescents with schizophrenia

BackgroundAdvanced paternal age (APA) is associated with increased risk for schizophrenia, but its effect on treatment response has not been longitudinally studied.MethodsAssociation of parental ages at the time of the child's birth with age of onset, initial symptom severity and treatment response (to placebo and three different weight-based doses of paliperidone ER) in adolescents with schizophrenia was assessed in a post-hoc analysis using data from a 6-week double-blind study, the primary results of which are published (NCT00518323).ResultsThe mean (SD) paternal age was 29.2 (6.2) years, range (16–50) and maternal age was 26.8 (5.7) years, range (17–42) at childbirth for the 201 adolescents (ages 12–17 years) included in the analysis. While parental ages were uncorrelated with age of onset or initial symptom severity, both maternal and paternal ages showed significant effects on treatment response (p < 0.03) of all paliperidone ER arms versus placebo. Paternal age was significantly correlated to improvement in positive symptoms and maternal age significantly related to negative symptoms, although only paternal age remained significantly associated with the treatment response in analyses that included both parents' ages.ConclusionsAPA was associated with greater treatment response to both paliperidone ER and placebo, but not to age of onset or initial symptom severity in adolescents with schizophrenia. The results support the contention that APA-related schizophrenia has distinct underpinnings from other cases. Further studies are required to explore the role of genetic and environmental factors, and their interactions, in treatment response in this complex disorder.